Padres at Pirates 5/18/18 - MLB Picks & Predictions

In Friday night MLB action, the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates will continue their weekend series from PNC Park. Last night, the Padres made an error in the seventh inning that allowed the game winning run to score during a 5-4 defeat. Eric Hosmer doubled and drove in three runs for San Diego, who is 11 games below .500 overall.

Thirty-one year old righty Tyson Ross (2-3 3.40 ERA) will take the mound for the Padres in this matchup. In his last start, Ross allowed just three hits and one run over six frames during a 2-1 victory versus St. Louis. The Pittsburgh Pirates have won eight of their last nine games and not looking like a team that was expected to be in rebuilding mode. On Thursday, Gregory Polanco doubled and scored the game winning run. RP Felipe Vazquez struck out the side to earn his ninth save for the Pirates, who lead Milwaukee by a half-game for the NL Central Division lead.

The Pirates will counter with thirty-one year old righty Ivan Nova (2-3 5.01 ERA) on Friday night. Last time out, Nova allowed eight hits and four runs during a 5-0 loss versus San Francisco.